Carlos Diver
Contributor
Just returned from a quick trip to Grenada. I will break the review into parts so you can skip around.
Getting there:
Currently in South Florida so I was able to do RT non-stop flights on American. When they say its a quick ride to the resort they are not kidding. It is literally a 2-3 minute ride to the Sandals property. Close enough that you can hear the jets landing and taking off on the other side of the hill. No issues on the flight or the transit to the resort.
SANDALS:
I have gone back and forth on how I want to talk about the resort. At the end of the day, I believe Sandals is a victim of their own branding and hype. It is a great looking resort. Perfectly manicured, tropical in many details, with a great beach with good snorkeling in gin-clear water. However, I found the food, service and the room to be relatively the same or lesser than other places I have traveled.
The room was large and clean. However, it was neither larger or more well appointed than any of the other All-Inclusive I have traveled too. I confess I always get the cheapest room (unless I can get a swim-out for a decent upgrade) because I just want a place to sleep and change, so many the Butler Suites are better appointed. However, it was by all-inclusive standards, very... standard. That said the bed was great and the Soaking Tub on the balcony was a great touch. The mini-bar was also refilled daily with endless wine and spirits.
The food was good to very good. Honestly, on the whole, as good or better than most places I have stayed. I think the main problem was my expectations. While I knew I was neither getting gourmet or five-star dinning at an All-Inclusive no matter what they try to advertise, I wasn't blown away by a single dish I had. The only meal that met my standard, of what I was expecting, was the Beef Medallions at the French Restaurant. It was probably one of the best meals I have had at an all-inclusive, however, it would never met the standard you would expect at an actual French restaurant. My friend at the opposite experience. Her Duck breast was served overcooked and skinless. Skinless duck breast...
The Steak house was okay, neither of our steaks came out at the proper temperature, however they at least undercooked them vs dried them out and were well seasoned, while my lobster tail was complete mush. The Sushi place was average as was the Hibachi restaurant, however both had menu items I enjoyed.
Now, take all of this with a grain of salt. Had this been Secrets or a Palace, I would have been more than content with all the meals I had. But I wasnt at Secrets, I was at Sandals. You will neither go hungry at Sandals nor will you run out of options.
The service was probably their biggest let down. To say you are ``On Island time'' is definitely true here. While everyone at the resort is extremely friendly, I found the service to be inconsistent to down-right terrible. Sandals has a no-tipping policy and it sadly shows. Multiple times I ordered drinks that never came. If they did, you were waiting 10 minutes at times to get them, and several times it wasn't what you ordered. At one point during lunch, I was shown to a table. Waited 10 minutes before the server shows up takes my drink order and 15 minutes, she was no where to be found. I simply got up and left.
It wasnt simple one restaurant, or bar, or one meal time, this happened multiple days at multiple places at different meal settings. Just very disappointing that Sunscape Sabor blows a Sandals resort out of the water on service.
The Diving:
I just looked at another review and he said it well. You go to Sandals to dive on vacation, not to do a dive vacation. I knew what I was getting into and had a plan B in place. When I first arrived I was told the boats were full all week and the could not fit me in. I laughed and he said he was serious. Immediately I knew this could happen and just said, if you can get me in great, whatever. Another guy showed up and didnt take it quite as well as I did. After I left and apparently after he finished, I got a call that they would be having another boat and they would take me two of the three days I requested. Better than nothing.
My first dive day I called and used Plan B, aquanauts Grenada. They had a nice operation with a nice sized boat. However, like Sandals, you really get a mixed bag. Everything from new divers to advanced all mixed together doing 80cu tanks. However, nitrox is included in the price, so I was able to get in a pair of 50-ish minute dives.
Sandals diving was very much a resort-course scuba diving. Their boat isn't suited as a dive boat in any real aspect. They don't even have enough rooms for all the tanks, they have to place them under the seats and use weights to keep them in place. There isn't even enough room to put your fins on while sitting down, or gear up if the guy next to you is gearing up at the same times. They call you to the boats and after on board they get a count of who has what certification level. Yes, after your on the boat they figure it out. I paired up with another advanced diver and since the groups were uneven we volunteered to go with the Open Water group since no one else was interested in staying at 60-feet. We both said the same thing, on an 80cf air tank, how deep and for how long do you think you will be going?
Also, the one by one filing and gearing up problem means it takes forever to get all the divers into the water, and by the time the last diver is in the new divers are starting to drift away from the group.
I will say that the guides themselves were very good. Not only extremely friendly, but also not focused on finding things on the reef, they were focused on the divers. The briefings are very good and detailed and I noticed out guide constantly double checking the number of divers and the newer divers air levels.
I got four dives in with Sandals, average dive time was 34 minutes. Yes, 34 minutes. The first to run out of air ends the dive. I came up with an average of over 1600PSI. :O
The actual diving was excellent. The reef has great color and plenty of life. I was extremely pleased with quality of the dive sites I got to see. I also was impressed with the number of Eels and Lobsters I was able to able to find. I think I found more Arrow Crabs here then anywhere else I have dived.
Overall:
My Lord do I feel like a Karen after writing this lol. I really do not mean to say Sandals sucks or you wont have a great vacation with them. It doesnt and you will have a good time at a Sandals. You will get very good, by AA standard foods and drinks, a post card beach and a tropical resort. They have a large returning and loyal fan base, and their resorts are all very pretty. However, when I say I could have taken 3 trips to Secrets, Palace or Iberostar Grands for what I paid here, I could have.
Did I get three times the vacation? No.
Did I have a good time? Yes.
Do I regret coming here? no.
Might do a further wrap-up and add on tomorrow. Until then, thanks for reading.
Getting there:
Currently in South Florida so I was able to do RT non-stop flights on American. When they say its a quick ride to the resort they are not kidding. It is literally a 2-3 minute ride to the Sandals property. Close enough that you can hear the jets landing and taking off on the other side of the hill. No issues on the flight or the transit to the resort.
SANDALS:
I have gone back and forth on how I want to talk about the resort. At the end of the day, I believe Sandals is a victim of their own branding and hype. It is a great looking resort. Perfectly manicured, tropical in many details, with a great beach with good snorkeling in gin-clear water. However, I found the food, service and the room to be relatively the same or lesser than other places I have traveled.
The room was large and clean. However, it was neither larger or more well appointed than any of the other All-Inclusive I have traveled too. I confess I always get the cheapest room (unless I can get a swim-out for a decent upgrade) because I just want a place to sleep and change, so many the Butler Suites are better appointed. However, it was by all-inclusive standards, very... standard. That said the bed was great and the Soaking Tub on the balcony was a great touch. The mini-bar was also refilled daily with endless wine and spirits.
The food was good to very good. Honestly, on the whole, as good or better than most places I have stayed. I think the main problem was my expectations. While I knew I was neither getting gourmet or five-star dinning at an All-Inclusive no matter what they try to advertise, I wasn't blown away by a single dish I had. The only meal that met my standard, of what I was expecting, was the Beef Medallions at the French Restaurant. It was probably one of the best meals I have had at an all-inclusive, however, it would never met the standard you would expect at an actual French restaurant. My friend at the opposite experience. Her Duck breast was served overcooked and skinless. Skinless duck breast...
The Steak house was okay, neither of our steaks came out at the proper temperature, however they at least undercooked them vs dried them out and were well seasoned, while my lobster tail was complete mush. The Sushi place was average as was the Hibachi restaurant, however both had menu items I enjoyed.
Now, take all of this with a grain of salt. Had this been Secrets or a Palace, I would have been more than content with all the meals I had. But I wasnt at Secrets, I was at Sandals. You will neither go hungry at Sandals nor will you run out of options.
The service was probably their biggest let down. To say you are ``On Island time'' is definitely true here. While everyone at the resort is extremely friendly, I found the service to be inconsistent to down-right terrible. Sandals has a no-tipping policy and it sadly shows. Multiple times I ordered drinks that never came. If they did, you were waiting 10 minutes at times to get them, and several times it wasn't what you ordered. At one point during lunch, I was shown to a table. Waited 10 minutes before the server shows up takes my drink order and 15 minutes, she was no where to be found. I simply got up and left.
It wasnt simple one restaurant, or bar, or one meal time, this happened multiple days at multiple places at different meal settings. Just very disappointing that Sunscape Sabor blows a Sandals resort out of the water on service.
The Diving:
I just looked at another review and he said it well. You go to Sandals to dive on vacation, not to do a dive vacation. I knew what I was getting into and had a plan B in place. When I first arrived I was told the boats were full all week and the could not fit me in. I laughed and he said he was serious. Immediately I knew this could happen and just said, if you can get me in great, whatever. Another guy showed up and didnt take it quite as well as I did. After I left and apparently after he finished, I got a call that they would be having another boat and they would take me two of the three days I requested. Better than nothing.
My first dive day I called and used Plan B, aquanauts Grenada. They had a nice operation with a nice sized boat. However, like Sandals, you really get a mixed bag. Everything from new divers to advanced all mixed together doing 80cu tanks. However, nitrox is included in the price, so I was able to get in a pair of 50-ish minute dives.
Sandals diving was very much a resort-course scuba diving. Their boat isn't suited as a dive boat in any real aspect. They don't even have enough rooms for all the tanks, they have to place them under the seats and use weights to keep them in place. There isn't even enough room to put your fins on while sitting down, or gear up if the guy next to you is gearing up at the same times. They call you to the boats and after on board they get a count of who has what certification level. Yes, after your on the boat they figure it out. I paired up with another advanced diver and since the groups were uneven we volunteered to go with the Open Water group since no one else was interested in staying at 60-feet. We both said the same thing, on an 80cf air tank, how deep and for how long do you think you will be going?
Also, the one by one filing and gearing up problem means it takes forever to get all the divers into the water, and by the time the last diver is in the new divers are starting to drift away from the group.
I will say that the guides themselves were very good. Not only extremely friendly, but also not focused on finding things on the reef, they were focused on the divers. The briefings are very good and detailed and I noticed out guide constantly double checking the number of divers and the newer divers air levels.
I got four dives in with Sandals, average dive time was 34 minutes. Yes, 34 minutes. The first to run out of air ends the dive. I came up with an average of over 1600PSI. :O
The actual diving was excellent. The reef has great color and plenty of life. I was extremely pleased with quality of the dive sites I got to see. I also was impressed with the number of Eels and Lobsters I was able to able to find. I think I found more Arrow Crabs here then anywhere else I have dived.
Overall:
My Lord do I feel like a Karen after writing this lol. I really do not mean to say Sandals sucks or you wont have a great vacation with them. It doesnt and you will have a good time at a Sandals. You will get very good, by AA standard foods and drinks, a post card beach and a tropical resort. They have a large returning and loyal fan base, and their resorts are all very pretty. However, when I say I could have taken 3 trips to Secrets, Palace or Iberostar Grands for what I paid here, I could have.
Did I get three times the vacation? No.
Did I have a good time? Yes.
Do I regret coming here? no.
Might do a further wrap-up and add on tomorrow. Until then, thanks for reading.
